Considering a new Traveling Tea Box- [SIGN UPS CLOSED- UPDATED 8/16]

Will be sending the box out by Monday. Finalizing the notebook and stash. I thought it’d be cool if we could each write a little story in the notebook- one of my favorite things about tea is that it brings people together. Most of the people in my life I’ve gotten to know over a mug of tea.

I will be including the following teas, in amounts varying from .5 to 2 oz:

In preparation for getting the box, I’ve been bagging up about 20g of various teas I have in my cupboard. I’m trying to include a variety – different types of teas, as well as flavored and not flavored. I’m also contemplating heading over to the international market near me and buying some new teas just so I can include more samples into the box.

Tell me – am I going overboard? How many new samples should I put in? I’ve never done a traveling box before, and when I sent tea samples to some friends they were overwhelmed at the number of little baggies of tea I had included. I’m trying to balance my desire to share tea, with not making the box explode at the seams just after the second person.

I think this is usually a personal thing- most people put in whatever they take out. I actually went out of my way to buy the florence and the soho blend from harney and sons, since i know most people don’t have access to them as easily as i do. But several of my sizes were larger- 1 to 2 oz each. So the TTB is packed pretty full.

If you look at the other threads for other boxes, you will see that there is a great variation. People taste just about everything in the box, which amounts to removing couple of ounces of tea. They can then take out as many entire packages as they want.

After removing 4 ounces in total, some people will put in large amounts (1-2 ounces) of only 2 or 3 different teas, while someone else will put in 10 smaller packages adding up to 4 ounces. Either is fine. The basic rule is to replace approximately what you took out and to try to match the quality (don’t dump in your rejects, but it is fair to include teas that other people rate highly but you just didn’t like).

I don’t think you’re going overboard, in fact, I would be excited to sample some things from your local market. Those are the kinds of things not all of us will have access to.

With Dr Jim’s box I noticed it included a lot of rooibos and decaf tea so I took out large amounts of several teas I enjoyed and put in smaller amounts of things that would give the box more variety. After that I looked at the shopping lists for people who are coming after me to see if there is anything I have that they are wanting to try.

To finish things off I put a few of my rejects in so hopefully someone along the line would enjoy it, one person’s reject is another’s favorite. At the very least, by including rejects it helps people cross items off their shopping list they might have otherwise purchased. I also find it very interesting to read the tasting notes for the teas I didn’t enjoy and see how everyone who tried it after me felt about what I included. Sometimes they feel the same way I did, other times they feel completely opposite.

Alright, it’s on its way! I’m sending Debbie the tracking code. It cost more than I hoped- $10.20. It was packed pretty well, so that’s probably the cause, but that price included tracking and insurance, which isn’t bad.

I was good and resisted temptation – making and eating dinner before opening it and exploring. So much tea! It’s a bit overwhelming. I took forward to sampling and trying new ones, and I’m already considering what to put in.

I did go to the Asian market and picked up some teas that I haven’t seen available online at any of the usual retailers (matcha infused sencha, for one), and I have some non flavored teas and herbal teas already bagged up to help round out the variety in the box.

I’m not minding. I’m finding some great black teas I wouldn’t have tried normally since I’m not a huge black tea fan.

I’m having a bit of a conundrum where I may be putting in (way way) more than I’m taking out. I’ll have to deliberate with myself on that. I think I may have to re-package some stuff to make it fit better and keep the weight down.

So I’ve sped through the box and enjoyed trying some new teas, and new types of teas.

Artp – I really want to know where you got the loose Tazo tea. Is that something I can walk into a Starbucks to buy? I really liked some of them.

In the end, I took out:
- Banana Dream Pie (David’s Tea)
- 1 oz of the Wolf Peach Island (handmade tea)
- 1 oz of the Iced Lemon Mind (handmade tea)
- .5 oz of Sultry Strawberry (Tazo)
- .5 oz of Peach Cobbler (Tazo)
The two handmade teas were in cylinder tins and I repackaged the remaining tea in bags because of weight and space. If someone further down the line takes the rest of the tea and wants the appropriate tin, let me know and I’ll be happy to send it on.

One of my favorite parts of tea is sharing. Many of these are ones I love. A few I have not tried yet because I just got them from the Asian market. A few I did not particularly care for but hope others of you might. I made notes for most of the teas in the journal in the box.

According to USPS, the shipping price to send the box to the next person will still be around $10 if I buy the postage online. I tried really hard to keep the weight of the box reasonable because of shipping costs. I’m hoping to get this shipped out to linnaete either Saturday or early next week.

Thanks for the info, and the offer. I think I’ll just keep an eye out for a future sale. It’s not like I’m hurting for tea at the moment… I imagine they’ll probably have another big sale around Thanksgiving. Thanks!

Just found out I’m pregnant and I thought this was going to get in the way of the box but they say as long as you’re only have about a cup or 2 a day you are fine. Due in May or June so hopefully the box gets to me before then haha.